its funny every time i went to dodger stadium almost everyone had radios so they knew what they were seeing
I dont mind the banter, but the live-mic’d player thing would really annoy me if I were a pitcher and my fielder were distracted by some announcer’s prod for some kind of comment. I don’t really like it nor find it particularly interesting.
But I can’t watch baseball anymore because of that incredibly annoying strike-zone rectangle that obscures the pitch. Plus the bizarre annoying stats and “whoosh” sounds they keep adding to the screen, e.g “exit velocity” or pitch type— it seems every sport does this to the point of making it seem like a VR video game. And whatever happened to the windup? Every pitcher now pitches from the stretch.
If I want a fix, I watch older (entire) ballgames on youtube. Sorry, I just prefer the fewer distractions and gimmicks. Baseball’s a pretty quiet game, and literally a “pastime”. I don’t care if games take 3 1/2 hrs. to watch.
I used to take a small radio to baseball games and use only one earbud. I’d listen to the announcers explaining whatever non-obvious thing had just happened. E.g., the manager pulled the first baseman in the middle of an inning for not hustling. And then pass the info on to the others with me.
I had to stop doing that. The NOISE level over the PA system was insanely loud and there was no way I could listen to the radio anymore at a volume that wouldn’t cause damage.
It’s ridiculous that watching a game on TV, despite it’s faults, is a better experience than watching it in person.
I haven’t had that experience at a baseball game, but I’ve stopped going to Notre Dame football games because their PA audio is oppressively loud. They’ve priced the loud, rowdy locals out of attending, and the snobby alums don’t cheer loud enough any more, so they make up for it through the speakers. No thanks - I’ll stay home.
The bitch about going to games in person is that so many venues have the commandment “Thou shalt not have a moment of silence during downtime.” Hockey seems to be the worst- whistle blows and rock music starts on the PA and lasts until the instant the puck is dropped. Baseball isn’t nearly so bad except every stadium plays the utterly asinine “DAAAAAAYYYYY-OH” bullshit at least twice a game. When was that ever anything but stupid?
I attend a fair number of soccer games, at least one NFL game, every year. Generally speaking, I vastly prefer live sports because often I like to watch things that might not be on camera, for example how NFL receivers are running their routes, and how the secondary is covering them… or in soccer, what kind of runs are strikers making off the ball?
That said, I don’t vastly enjoy the effort it takes to get to NFL games in particular, and as I get older I am less likely to do that.
Also, those of you doing the wave during live play can go fuck yourselves.
It’s been decades since I’ve been to a baseball or football game. I have recently however attended a major live pro wrestling show. So that’s my comparison.
It’s not something that I would do every week, but as a once in a while experience it’s definitely worth it. Watching games and whatnot on TV is definitely a more enjoyable experience for me overall. It’s just easier to follow the flow of what’s going on from minute to minute. One thing I knew intellectually but hadn’t considered in a real way until I got there was that, when you get there you realize depending on where you’re seated at you might not see the entire field/court/ring. But being in the middle of a crowd of thousands of people who are just as passionate about something as you are does create a real experience.
At one point during the pro wrestling show I went to one of the wrestlers came out and there was an overwhelmingly positive reaction to her. I heard before about the “connection” that performers and athletes can create with an audience. I’ve never quite bought into it, I always thought it was “woo woo” BS, but I can’t deny I felt something in that moment. I still think a lot of it is woo woo type stuff, but that is definitely a sensation that I’ve never felt watching shows at home. I imagined it might be something similar to a home fan watching their home team winning in front of them live?
Just my 2 cents.
What chaps my hide is the voices on a lot of these guys. In all other voice work, the quality of said voice matters. But that all goes out the window with sports. Guy sounds like he’s gargling phlegm? Excellent? Old fart who babbles like your drunk grandpa? Bring him on.
I didn’t really think much about it until Kenny Singleton stop broadcasting Yankee games. It was like listening to a smooth FM deejay when he was around. Michael Kay is bad enough, but have you ever spent a few hours listening to Alex Rodriguez? Yikes. Now if a former player has interesting insights and observations, fine. David Cone doesn’t have a great voice, but he knows his his stuff, so there are exceptions.
But everybody has 100 inch TVs now, so there’s plenty of room an resolution to have both in the screen at once.
But it’s a great idea! Surely you want to hear the key players themselves sharing their thoughts, their strategy, their lfe stories in the middle of the game they are playing. Plus, baseball is so boring the players need something to keep their attention. I mean, everybody can multitask efficiently.
But it’s amazing the access that this new technology allows. Can’t you see how exciting it is to show creative, unique views of the action? Don’t you love having your perspective shift dramatically while you are trying to track the ball?
Oh come on, celebrities and family members are much more interesting than anything happening on the field.
/sarcasm
I agree. All of those are the unfortunate result of trying to provide unique access and innovative coverage, neglecting the fact that many viewers don’t actually want that access. It’s intrusive to the game. It distracts from or obscures the actual game.
I can only speak for Mariner games, and it is absolutely as bad as hockey. (actually, I can add Oakland games too. I can tell from the broadcast that the fans are bombarded by horns, bells, drums, and god knows what else. Perhaps because they are so few fans in attendance)
I’ve been watching a ton of football on tv lately, at the pub (a brewery that brews ales in a pub atmosphere) and at home (Amazon Prime).
The camera coverage is great overall. Plus, when a goal is scored they must have a bunch of cameras set up around the goal. During the after-score break in the action, they’ll show the goal from every imaginable angle.
Last time I saw an NFL game it was awesome. No commercials, even when there is no play going there’s always something to watch, you have fans around you to chat with and high five or whatever. It was great. And there was a lot of interaction with the players; they let us know when they wanted us louder and quieter so it felt like we were actually part of the game.
The only thing that sucked was getting there and back, but we took the train so even that wasn’t bad. That and the cost, though my dad-in-law knew a guy who got us tickets so we really just had to pay for food.
When I can I love to go, but that’s very rare. I mean, that last game was just over a decade ago…